Back on Track

This report tells how Virginia’s leaders and the Annie E. Casey Foundation worked together to pull off the near impossible: They won over jaded frontline workers to build a new child welfare system from scratch—and make it stick. Today, this family-focused system is driven by data, teeming with best practices and serves as a magnet for collaboration and local innovation (Another bonus? It’s saved Virginians $100 million in just two years).

In This Report, You’ll Learn

Key Takeaway

Virginia and the Foundation hashed out a broad, two-pronged approach to reform.

In 2006, Virginia’s inefficient and expensive child welfare system led the nation in aging youths out of foster care without a network of support. By partnering with the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Child Welfare Strategy Group, the state turned this statistic around while instituting sweeping system-wide changes aimed at fostering stable, supportive families with no expiration date. Virginia and the Foundation hashed out a broad, two-pronged approach to reform: Part 1: Review state policies and practices; Part 2: Go local.

Findings & Stats

Council on Reform

Creating a Council on Reform, where 13 localities served as change leaders and innovators, served as a vital first step to getting Virginia’s 100 independent local organizations involved in reform.

Budget

As part of its statewide reform effort, Virginia passed a comprehensive budget package that boosted funding for foster, adoptive and kin parents.

Success Metrics

Virginia’s new child welfare system, which championed family-focused strategies like Team Decision Making, has yielded powerful statistical successes, such as: (1) A 60% jump in community-based care for children; (2) a more than 80% jump in child permanency rates; (3) a 20% drop in the state’s foster care caseload; (4) a 50% drop in the number of children in congregate care.